


Surf's Up

by Lush_Specimen



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Day At The Beach, Gen, Riptide is a good boy, Snapshots Zine, Surfing, Whirl has adopted the scraplets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 09:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20486696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lush_Specimen/pseuds/Lush_Specimen
Summary: Riptide takes Skids and Nautica to the beach for some epic surfing. Once the Sharkticons watch him carving some totally righteous waves, they decide that he must be the incarnation of their god.My cute contribution for the amazing Snapshots Zine!





	Surf's Up

“Surf’s up!” Riptide yelled as he broke into a run across the white sand beach towards the massive waves curling in the cerulean sea. 

“Hey! Wait up!” Nautica called, dragging Skids along to keep up with their excited companion. 

“Last one in is a rotten scraplet!” Riptide laughed, bounding along and widening his lead. 

Suddenly a great gust of wind threw a blast of sand towards Riptide. He skidded to a stop and yelped in surprise, covering his face with his hands. 

“Watch that language!” chided a menacing navy helicopter hovering dangerously close to the ground. He dipped his rotors towards a smaller crimson helicopter, flitting around chirping anxiously. “Don’t worry, Junior,” the attack chopper cooed, “I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” 

“Ahh! Whirl, please! I’m sorry!” Riptide pleaded, still caught in the swirling sandstorm of the helicopter’s powerful downdraft. Ever since Whirl officially adopted the swarm of red scraplets and collectively named them Junior, he became incredibly sensitive to anything that might offend his unique charge. “I didn’t mean it!” 

“Oh? What did you mean, then?” 

“What I meant to say was… The last one to the water is… is…” Riptide stammered, desperately struggling to some up with some creative alternative that wouldn’t provoke Whirl’s protective nature. 

“A slow-coach named Riptide!” Nautica cheerily shouted from her perch on the roof of Skid’s sports car alt mode as they sped by. 

“Hey! Not fair!” Riptide darted past Whirl, spurred into action by the possibility of losing the race. “I don’t have wheels! That’s cheating!” Despite his best efforts, Riptide arrived at the water’s edge last. 

“No,” laughed Skids as he switched back into bot mode, “That’s losing!” 

“You might have won if you hadn’t offended Junior,” Nautica playfully cuffed Riptide’s shoulder. 

“Ugh! Junior!” Riptide moaned. “You know they tried to eat me once. What about my feelings?” 

A thunderous roar caught all of their attention as a monstrous wave crashed over the reef. The roiling surf churned the turquoise waters into a turbulent mass of white foam. 

“Oh woooow!” Riptide’s golden optics sparkled and a wide grin showing the tips of his shark fangs spread across his face. “Check out that amplitude! This is going to be an epic session! Brainstorm said when the winds from the northern storms finally reach the island, there’s a chance we could see swells over a hundred feet today. Are you two ready?” 

“A hundred feet?!” Nautica and Skids glanced nervously at each other then back to the booming surf. 

“No worries!” Riptide shrugged. “Even if you go under, you always come back up. I mean, you might come up dead, but you always come up!” 

“Why don’t you go first?” Skids suggested. 

“To show us how it’s done.” Nautica eagerly nodded in agreement. 

“You got it!” Riptide shouted. Gleefully sprinting towards the ocean, he passed a small group of strange shark-like bots splashing in the shallow surf. “This one’s for you, little dudes!” Riptide winked at them then dove into the sapphire waters. They instantly stopped frolicking and widened their orb-like green optics in awe. Chattering excitedly, they crowded together to watch Riptide swim out into the oncoming swells. 

Riptide swam the first few strokes in bot mode, diving into the smaller waves breaking near the shore. Disappearing beneath the surface, he spun his transformation cog and re-emerged in his nautical alt mode, racing straight out to sea. He sliced through the crashing barrels of several humongous waves always just ahead of the curl and whooped in excitement. Every time he glanced back towards the beach to wave to Skids and Nautica there seemed to be more and more of the teal and purple shark bots clustered along the shore. 

Still reeling from the heady rush of carving a rad tube, Riptide noticed a huge dark swell rising towards the shore. He quickly transformed back into bot mode to shout to Nautica, Skids, and the now beaucoup bunch of boisterous shark bots, “Check it out! This is the one I've been waiting for!” 

When he started speaking, the shark bots all froze and fell perfectly silent, seemingly hanging on his every word. Riptide smiled and waved to them, which set them all bouncing and chirping at once. With one final salute, he turned back into a boat and prepared to meet the massive wave. By the time the swell reached the breaking point at the reef, it towered well above a hundred feet. Riptide revved his engine and threw himself into the deep blue barrel. He raced along, skimming the near vertical surface. As the curl collapsed in a roar of foam, Riptide shot out of the barrel right over the crest of the wave. He transformed into bot mode and performed a perfect twisting somersault combo dive safely behind the crashing wall of water. 

Riptide emerged from the rolling surf a few moments later and began paddling to shore, slightly unnerved by the large crowd of raucously cheering shark bots. Nautica and Skids jumped up and down, laughing and beckoning Riptide over. 

“That was amazing!” Skids gushed, clapping Riptide on the back. 

“Amazing doesn't do you justice!” Nautica raved. “I’ve never seen anything like that!” 

“Thanks!” Riptide beamed. “Next time you two have to join me.” 

The shark bots stopped their chattering and once more adopted an air of silent reverence, focusing their shining green optics all on him. Riptide self-consciously rubbed the back of his helm, “What’s up with these little dudes? I never really had any fans before.” 

Skids snickered and elbowed Nautica, “Go on! You have to tell him!” 

“Tell me what?” Riptide asked. 

“Well…” Nautica bit her bottom lip. “I’ve been talking to the Sharkticons, which is what they call themselves. They speak an extremely ancient version of the primal vernacular. Old-old Cybertronian, if you will. The linguistic similarities are actually quite fascinating. In fact-” 

“Nautica, please!” 

“Oh right! Anyways, long story short, they believe you to be a deity.” 

“I really hope that's a kind of boat,” Riptide winced. 

“Fraid not,” Nautica grinned. “It means they think you’re a god.” 

“A god?! ME?!” Riptide exclaimed as the Sharkticons capered around him on their stout legs, waving their slim arms and dancing joyously. 

“Oh yes!” Nautica continued while Skids failed to contain his laughter and doubled over. “They use the same type of language to describe you that we use to talk about Primus. Their prophecies are oddly specific and really tailored to you. ‘One day a shark god will emerge from the towering waves, master of sea and surf.’ Want me to recite a quick translation of the entire ballad?” 

“What?! NO!” Riptide sank slowly to the ground and hugged his knees to his chest. “I can’t be a god,” he muttered. “Gods are wise, and powerful, and important. I’m… just a boat.” 

Sensing his distress, the Sharkticons ceased their revelry and began to keen a haunting melody. Riptide felt something nuzzling his shins and looked up to see a shimmering crimson Sharkticon. 

“Hey, Junior,” he sighed, recognizing the distinct color of Whirl's adoptee no matter what form they took. He gently ruffled their composite red scales. “Sorry about before. No hard feelings, okay?” 

Junior purred like a racing speedboat, leaning into his touch. Riptide scooped them up in a warm hug and the Sharkticons' jaws all dropped at once, stunned into silence once more. While Riptide cuddled Junior, he felt a pair of claws lightly grasp his shoulders. 

“You know, traveling with ol’ Primus himself, and raising Junior here, I’ve learned a few things,” Whirl curved his sinuous neck and focused his single gold optic on Riptide. “Wisdom and power are over-rated. What really counts are love and kindness. In that respect, I think the Sharkticons made a pretty decent choice.” 

“Aww! Thank you, Whirl,” Riptide brightened at his advice. Junior clamored out of his embrace onto Whirl's shoulder, shifting their form into a vermilion approximation of Whirl’s spindly bot mode. 

“Don’t mention it,” Whirl shrugged. Before stalking away, he spun around, gold optic narrowed to a menacing slit, and jabbed a single claw at Riptide’s chest. “Seriously! Don’t mention it to anyone, EVER!! I have a reputation to maintain!” 

“No problem,” Riptide chuckled, turning his attention to the expectant crowd of his new devotees. The Sharkticons shifted nervously on their chunky teal legs, barbed tails swishing. “Nautica, could you translate for me?” 

“Sure! Go ahead!” 

“Okay, little buddies,” Riptide began. “Who else wants a hug?” He opened his arms wide and flashed a charming shark tooth grin. 

A collective gasp rippled through the crowd of Sharkticons as Nautica relayed Riptide's offer. They responded with huge fanged smiles of their own, and all leapt forward at once. Riptide giggled as they bowled him over, each one eager for a hug.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you for reading!
> 
> I appreciate your kudos and love reading your comments!!
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at: [lush-specimen.tumblr.com](https://lush-specimen.tumblr.com/)


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